The deep future may include intelligence much more impressive than our own, as Darwin’s thought in particular suggests. This chapter considers how science can take us through Darwin’s Door, beginning ...
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The deep future may include intelligence much more impressive than our own, as Darwin’s thought in particular suggests. This chapter considers how science can take us through Darwin’s Door, beginning with Christian de Duve’s idea that in a few million years the Earth may see hominins with brains three times as large and complex as our own. Call this de Duve’s Destination. Reflection on what genetic and cultural evolution may conspire to produce, in connection with the work of other scientists such as Simon Conway Morris, suggests that hominins may well survive such challenges as are presented by ice ages and make it all the way to de Duve’s destination. Even if this doesn’t occur, there is scientific support for the idea that speciation in the large vertebrates may pick up again in a future far more distant than the one envisaged by de Duve.Less

First Among Unequals?

J. L. Schellenberg

Published in print: 2013-06-13

The deep future may include intelligence much more impressive than our own, as Darwin’s thought in particular suggests. This chapter considers how science can take us through Darwin’s Door, beginning with Christian de Duve’s idea that in a few million years the Earth may see hominins with brains three times as large and complex as our own. Call this de Duve’s Destination. Reflection on what genetic and cultural evolution may conspire to produce, in connection with the work of other scientists such as Simon Conway Morris, suggests that hominins may well survive such challenges as are presented by ice ages and make it all the way to de Duve’s destination. Even if this doesn’t occur, there is scientific support for the idea that speciation in the large vertebrates may pick up again in a future far more distant than the one envisaged by de Duve.